School exams in New York do not reflect real knowledge: a simple life hack makes it easy to pass the test

New York teacher Ed Knight in his column on Medium.com spoke about the fact that school exams in the state do not reflect the level of knowledge of students at all and the system can be easily deceived. Actually, this is what they did with one of the students. The following is a translation of his column in the first person.

My student River spent more time in the courtroom last year than in class. One Friday night in September, he got a call from a drunk friend asking for a ride home from a party. River complied. It's a problem when you're 14 years old. On an adventure with his drunk friend, River drove through the landscaping of several local businesses. As a result, his car in the forest became entangled in a web of electrical wires. From that moment on, everything went on the rise. Anyway, River didn't study algebra last year.

I'm serious: he didn't study algebra at all. He didn't even attend most of the lessons. At the end of the year, he asked me how he could pass the Regents exam.

“No problem,” I said. – Just select all answers C.

- What?

- Try. I bet it will work.

And it worked.

Did I have special knowledge in giving this advice? - Not. Or yes, if you think that numeracy is special knowledge.

You see, the tests that determine college scholarships and high school graduation can be passed by simply marking all Cs?! I wanted to convey this to the officials, but no one listened to me.

What are New York State Regents Exams?

In New York, these exams are usually referred to simply as Regents, for example, “Did you study for the Physics Regents yesterday?” and “Were English Regents easier than your mom’s?”

Regents are very important. For example, in mathematics, NYSED offers three Regents exams: Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II. You must pass at least one of these exams in order to graduate from high school.

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Also, in most schools, the Regency Examination has a big impact on your final grade in a particular course. 10-15% of a student's final GPA is based on their grade on this exam.

However, the Department of Education does not require or recommend that schools use Regents exam scores to calculate a student's final GPA. Local counties must decide whether to use these estimates in this way.

But who are they fooling? If the exam does not count towards the final grade, will the student prepare for it? Of course not. Especially in June, when pools are open and summer jobs appear, camps open and school is already over. Yes, it's over. New York holds these exams a week or two after the end of the school year.

Thus, in order to ensure the motivation of students, the regency exam is counted towards the formation of the final grade of the course.

Regency exams matter a lot

They matter for scholarships and free college programs. The results of these exams are also important for school districts. A school with terrible test results will be the focus of the NYSED (Department of Education) and will face mountains of extra paperwork, meetings, and reviews.

The bottom line is that because the choir exams are important, the NYSED is very meticulous in preparing high quality tests that challenge students and accurately measure their performance. Rather, it should be so, but in reality the system does not work as it should.

Regency Algebra Exams in New York

Let's first look at tests from the previous few years. In the scoring table from the June 2018 Algebra Regents Exam, the minimum passing score was 65 points. In order to get a scaled score of 65, a student needs a raw score of 26. That is, 26 correct answers out of 86 questions. Thus, to pass the test, you need to correctly answer only 30% of the questions. The same goes for geometry exams.

The NYSED should be ashamed of the fact that it requires algebra students to give only 30% correct answers in order to pass the test. It is chock-full of “define” questions, “yes or no” questions, and reading comprehension questions without any algebra. Other questions require nothing more than copying a graph from a calculator. And yes, graphing calculators are not only allowed, but mandatory.

Regency Tests 2022

In 2022, students are only required to score 50 points to pass the Regents exam, instead of 65 as before. Each child who scores 50 points will be considered a success on the test.

The NYSED hasn't changed anything since 2018. Only now, instead of 65 scalable scores, you need 50. So instead of a raw score of 26/86, or 30,3% correct, you need 17/86, or 19,8% correct. This is where my advice to River came from.

How difficult is it to score those 17 points?

By answering all questions with option C, you will get 9 correct answers in the 2022 test. Each one is worth two points. That's 18 points - enough to pass. I really didn't know what to say when I first saw this. This is a terrific malfeasance. I wouldn't have believed anyone could let this happen - until I saw it happen myself.

The statistically astute reader will object that River was lucky. There were 9 correct Cs on the test, but with four choices in 24 questions, you can really expect to consistently choose one option only to get 6 correct answers.

Whatever it was, but the test, which can be passed by guessing, does not reflect the real knowledge of the students.